In the 5th grade, at St. Pius V, Sister Mary Lucy gave our class an art project. “Draw your soul,” she said softly.
I had no idea what my soul could possibly look like. I looked across the row at Patricia Scanlon’s work, hoping to find inspiration (or copy) without seeing it. Others in the class were busy drawing something I could not even imagine. I began thinking that a soul contains something. I drew a circle first, then an oval-like shape emerged.
Next, I drew twine wrapping the form, thinking that a soul was a container of sorts. What could this vessel contain? All my sins I thought. The twine wrapped the greenish elliptical shape holding the inventory of sin. The image reminded me of something, but what that was, I could not place until decades later.
As we neared the end of time, I used a red crayon and vigorous strokes to paint a background around the amorphous shape.
Fifth grade and10 years old, Sister Mary Lucy became the first curator of my art.
